


No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

by kuningatarmirka



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternative Universe - No Island, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hacker Felicity Smoak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-06-03 00:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19452214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuningatarmirka/pseuds/kuningatarmirka
Summary: Felicity wanted to do good. Her virus was only supposed to be used for noble causes.But things don't always go the way you want.University AU inspired by Wicked the Musical.





	1. Dear Old Starling U

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! *waves*
> 
> I haven't written a longer story in ages (the last time was probably in high school) but I've had this idea in my head for a few months. I was wondering what would happen if I combined two of my favorite things, Arrow and Wicked, and this story is the result. The overall plot is from the musical but I made a lot of changes to make everything work. The biggest difference is probably gonna be the relationship between Felicity and Laurel which won't be the same as the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda. I just don't see the characters that way. But they're still gonna be friends.
> 
> Also, English is not my first language but Word's spelling and grammar checker is working as my beta so I think I'm okay ;)

ACT 1

Felicity had a hunger for knowledge. She wanted to know how the world around her worked, how the clouds gathered above her on a rainy day, or how the tallest building in the city was able to touch the sky. She wanted to know how the bridge in the distance could carry so much weight, or how the airplane she could see from the ground was able to soar up the skies. But above all she wanted to know how the computer on her lap was able to store so much information for such a small device.

Science and mathematics had always interested her, but computers were her passion. Felicity had started tinkering with them when she had been a little girl. She had stolen computer parts from her father when she had only been 7 years old and built her first working computer. Her father had been so proud of her. He had loved how his little girl had inherited his brains and passion for computers. That was why Felicity had never understood how he could have left and abandoned her and her mother. One day he had been there, sitting at their kitchen table reading the day’s paper, but when she had woken up the next day, he had been gone.

Over the years Felicity had wondered if it had been her fault. Maybe she hadn’t been good enough. Fortunately, when she grew older, she slowly forgot about her father. Especially when her mother married again and she got two new sisters and a stepfather, her own father didn’t have a place in her heart anymore. But even though she didn’t have him in her life anymore, her love for computers technology did not diminish.

This passion of hers had made her professor at Starling University suggest she join a group of two other computer enthusiasts. He obviously didn’t know what the duo really did on their spare time, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have suggested she join them. Cooper and Myron were a pair of hackers who had welcomed Felicity to their hacktivist group with open arms. She was still a freshman, though, so she had felt like she had to show them what she could do with her magic fingers. Well, figuratively speaking, of course, she didn’t actually possess any magic. She still felt like she had something to prove so that was why she was sitting in the campus’ library, working on a new project they had started. Her fingers glided over the keyboard, writing string after string of code in a lightning speed.

Felicity didn’t have any more classes that afternoon, so their group had arranged to meet in the boys’ dorm room after lunch. They had entertained the idea of coding their own virus. Cooper had promised her they wouldn’t do anything bad with it, so she had agreed. They mostly just wanted to know if they could do it. Felicity glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed silently. She had sat there longer than she thought. In a few minutes her group members would start texting her, asking her where she was. She quickly took her bag, stuffed her laptop inside and ran out of the building.

It was November, so the temperature outside was getting colder every day. It had forced her to study in the library even though it wasn’t her favorite place on campus. She preferred sitting outside in the sun, which sadly wasn’t an option anymore, or somewhere else where she could be alone. She didn’t need any interruptions from anyone, especially not from her roommate, Laurel, who also happened to be her stepsister.

Her mother, stepfather and stepsisters had never understood her love for technology and had often tried to get her to stop and focus on something that they thought was more important, like boys and dating. Her mother especially had wanted her to be more like the other girls at school. Donna Smoak wore short sparkly dresses and for her the most important thing in life was to find the perfect man.

Felicity was different. She had always loved being on her own, focusing either on her studies or on a code she had difficulties cracking. So, it wasn’t a surprise when she chose Information Technology as her major when she was old enough to attend university. She had always dreamed of studying at MIT, but her sister’s accident had forced her to change her plans.

Sara, the youngest one of her two stepsisters, had been in a motorcycle accident that had left her in a wheelchair. She had broken her back in the accident and lost all mobility in her legs. Their family hadn’t been the same afterwards. Sara’s wellbeing had become the most important thing for Felicity’s stepfather, Quentin. He wanted to help Sara all the time, which annoyed the girl. She had always been an adventurous person, constantly seeking trouble, but after the accident her world had gotten a lot smaller.

When Sara had announced she wanted to start studying linguistics, her father had been conflicted. Sara had gotten interested in Arabic linguistics and culture and was really looking forward to studying them, but Quentin didn’t want to let her out of his sight. Felicity, seeing his struggle, had suggested she join her in Starling University, where Laurel was already studying law, so she could help her sister. The university had a good technology program and if she wanted, she could transfer to MIT later and get her Masters there. Starling University was nothing compared to MIT, though, but she knew her family was more important.

She had always been close with Sara, anyway. It was their older sister Laurel who she couldn’t get along with. At first, they had been okay with each other but when Laurel had been in high school, she had changed. Suddenly she had become obsessed with the idea of being the most popular girl at school. She had to date the prettiest of boys and her friend circle consisted of other popular girls. Felicity in all her nerdy glory was not suitable company for her. Since then they had disliked each other.

Felicity had hoped going to university would have changed things but of course Quentin had ordered her and Laurel to share a room. Sara had her own room in another building where she lived with her personal assistant and sometimes Felicity spent the night on her couch. Sometimes she went there to get away from Laurel but usually it was because she had been too focused on her coding that she completely forgot the time and Sara’s place had been closer.

Coding until she forgot the time seemed to be the theme of her life, Felicity thought as she hurried through the campus, all the while trying to text Cooper that she would be a little late. She was just crossing the path when she collided with something hard and fell on her behind, letting out a shriek and dropping her phone on the ground.

“Oh Frack!” she cried and quickly picked up her phone to check if it was still in one piece. There was a small crack on the screen which made her groan.

Only then did she notice someone looming over her. She raised her head and was met with a concerned face. A really handsome concerned face, she had to admit. He had short dirty blond hair and some stubble on his chin. Felicity thought he looked familiar but couldn’t remember if she had seen him before.

She probably stared at him for too long because after a while the handsome face had the audacity to start laughing.

“Hey!” she exclaimed and got up from the ground. “Don’t you look at all where you're going?” she demanded. “Now my phone’s screen is cracked and it’s all your fault!”

“Excuse me?” he raised his eyebrows. “I wasn’t the one looking at my phone while walking down the street.”

“You still have no right to knock me over,” she insisted. She knew she should have looked away from her phone but wasn’t going to admit that. Not even to a handsome face like his.

“Handsome, huh?” he smirked and now she wanted to punch him. She really needed to stop saying her thoughts out loud.

“Shut up,” she murmured and checked if there was any dirt on her jeans. She wiped them clean and made sure her backpack and laptop were still okay. When she raised her head, the guy was still smirking at her.

“What?” she snapped.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry! Next time I’ll check if there are any other nerds crossing the road before I go on.”

He clearly found the whole thing amusing which angered Felicity more. Instead of answering she just glared at him and walked away. She didn’t want to spend any more time with an idiot like him. She saw that her encounter with him had also drawn the attention of other students. Especially girls seemed to be really interested in him. Felicity thought she even saw Laurel in the crowd which wasn’t a surprise. If handsome men were involved, she would be there.

* * *

Felicity had been working on her code with Cooper and Myron for a couple of hours when she got a text from Sara, asking for her assistance.

“Gotta go!” she said, picking up her stuff, but the boys barely even looked away from their screens.

She hurried to her sister’s room and let herself in with her key.

“I’m here,” she announced and found Sara in the middle of her room, surrounded by clothes.

“I need you to help me decide what to wear!” she clapped her hands together. “Oliver Queen is throwing a party and Tommy is going to be there!”

“This is the reason I had to rush here?” Felicity laughed but felt a little bit irritated. Sara had had a crush on Tommy for a while now, but knowing her, her crushes usually didn’t last long.

“Wait a second, Oliver Queen?” Felicity suddenly realized. “As in Queen Consolidated?” Queen Consolidated was one of the most influential tech companies and she had always wanted an internship there.

Sara just rolled her eyes. “Of course, who else?”

“He’s like the prince of Starling, how is he here?” Felicity asked. “Wasn’t he supposed to be studying in some fancy university?”

“I don’t know. He only arrived today and is already throwing a party in the frat house,” Sara answered. “And I want to be there.”

Felicity had heard of Oliver Queen’s drunken adventures in Starling City and she really didn’t feel like meeting him.

“It doesn’t mean I have to be there,” she said as she sat down on Sara’s bed.

“You have to! Everyone is gonna be there. Please, Felicity! I need you to be my wingwoman,” Sara pleaded.

Felicity sighed and knew she couldn’t say no to her. “Maybe for a few hours.”

“Yes! Now, pass me that dress,” Sara pointed at a pile of clothes on the bed. “I want to look nice for him, I even put on some nice underwear!”

Felicity didn’t want to think of Sara’s underwear, but she still helped her try on at least five different dresses. When she was about to pick the next, they both heard commotion coming from outside. It sounded like a big group of people had gathered in front of the building. Sara wheeled herself to the window with Felicity trailing behind.

“Looks like there are already herds of girls surrounding him,” Sara snorted and wheeled herself back to her cloth piles. “He does look a lot nicer with that haircut, though. That mop he had previously did not suit him at all.”

Felicity looked out of the window as well to see what was happening. She almost choked on her own spit when she saw the same douchebag, who had insulted her earlier, walking past her sister’s window.

“Wait, that’s Oliver Queen!?”


	2. The Tech Wizard and I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, as a linguist I don't know much about coding. The only coding I've done was for my language technology course. So, all the tech stuff in this chapter is straight from 3x05 and therefore, not mine.

_Unlimited… my future is unlimited._

“So, you ended up insulting Oliver Queen? The son of the late Robert Queen and the future CEO of Queen Consolidated? That Oliver Queen?”

“Yes,” Felicity sighed and took off her glasses to rub her eyes. They had been working on their code for two hours already and she felt like her eyes were on fire.

“I didn’t know it was him, okay? I’ve only seen those drunken paparazzi pictures of him with the horrible haircut and I never paid attention to them, so I had no idea what he looked like now or that he was actually here.”

“Wow,” Myron breathed. “I guess you can say goodbye to your internship dreams at QC then?”

Felicity sighed again. “I just have to hope he doesn’t remember me and never mentions our encounter to anyone.”

It was all humiliating anyway.

“Merlyn Global has some internship places, too. Maybe you can get one of those.”

“Eww, no,” she shuddered. She had always found their CEO, Malcom Merlyn, creepy.

Myron still continued. “I think I read that Queen Consolidated and Merlyn Global are working on some projects together. Looks like you’d be working with him anyway.”

“Could you two concentrate, please?” Cooper interrupted them. He was sitting in front of his desktop on the other side of the room and was now watching them with an annoyed look on his face. “Brother Eye hit another hospital in the Glades yesterday, but it looks like the Calculator stopped the attack so nothing major happened,” he informed them.

“What? Really?” Felicity asked and got up from the bed she had been sitting on. “We haven’t heard any news of him for a few weeks.”

She had been a fan of the Calculator’s work for years. He was a real computer wizard, lately helping with the cyber-attacks the city was suffering from. He operated in the dark web and was both on the police and FBI’s radar. Felicity didn’t think of him as a criminal. He was doing the same kind of work she and their hacktivist group did. No one knew who he really was because he was impressively good at hiding his tracks.

“Brother Eye’s attacks have been increasing in the last few weeks, too,” Cooper explained. “They’ve hit a lot of places in the Glades, the hospital and the police station to name a few.”

“I still don’t understand what they are trying to accomplish.” Felicity frowned.

“I think they’re testing. I think they have a bigger plan and they want to know how good the city is at defending itself against cyber threads,” Cooper explained.

“So, we should be prepared, too, right?” Felicity asked. That was why they were doing this in the first place.

“Precisely,” Cooper nodded.

Their x-axis bi-numeric algorithm, also dubbed the super virus by Cooper, was supposed to give them root access to virtually any digital server infected by it. It still needed some work, though. Felicity had already been working on it even before she joined Cooper and Myron, but they had given her fresh suggestions, so the virus had started to form beautifully.

Honestly being accepted to their little group had brightened Felicity’s days a lot. She now felt like she could actually make a difference in the world by helping Cooper and Myron deface criminals, maybe even expose fraud on the internet once their virus was ready. When she had been a child, her father had been the only one who understood her and encouraged her to work on her skills, and in high school she had been the nerd with no friends, so meeting people who were also interested in the same things was nice.

“I’d like to meet him one day,” Felicity spoke up after a while.

“Who? The Calculator?” Myron asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I mean no-one knows who he is and where he resides, but maybe one day I could be good enough to actually contact him.”

Felicity knew meeting him _(or her, girls could be hackers, too!)_ would be highly unlikely. Everyone knew him in the dark web as the Calculator but that was it. He was good at hiding who he really was.

“What about you, Coop?” Felicity asked and turned to look at him.

Cooper had been quiet for some time and looked like he was deep in thought.

“We should test it,” he finally answered.

“Test what?”

“The virus.”

Both Felicity and Myron stared at him with wide eyes.

“You wanna test virus?” Felicity squeaked. “But it’s not ready yet!”

“It almost is,” Cooper replied. “I’ve been planning on breaking into the Department of Education for a while now and I think we can do it. We can get in and maybe that will attract the Calculator’s attention. We don’t actually have to do anything, just show him that we could do some damage if we wanted.”

Felicity had to admit the idea was compelling. Showing they could break into a system that important would surely draw his attention. But she also knew that it was risky. They hadn’t tested their virus for something that important and she wasn’t sure if it was working as it should.

“If we test it, we can’t do anything illegal, well _more_ illegal. I can’t guarantee we won’t get caught if something happens. Not yet.”

“Don’t worry,” Cooper reassured her. “I won’t do anything that would get us in trouble.”

Felicity was still skeptical and honestly, she didn’t want to do it, but Cooper and Myron were both looking at her in a way that she just couldn’t say no.

“Okay! Let’s do it,” she decided, which had Cooper smirking at her.

They worked side to side on Cooper’s desktop with Myron in the background.

“Spoofing the IP, switching to MD6…” Felicity muttered while her fingers glided over the keyboard.

And then they were in.

“Oh my God, we did it! We have to take a screenshot and post it online to brag that we actually got in,” she gushed. She jumped around for a bit until she realized that Cooper wasn’t stopping.

“Cooper, what are you doing?”

“Thirty seconds until the firewall goes back up,” Myron informed them.

Cooper just smirked and continued typing. “The world would be a lot better place without student loans, don’t you think?”

“You can’t wipe out all the loans, they’ll never think it’s a glitch. They’re gonna track us down!” Felicity cried, rushing to his side to see what he was doing.

“Ten seconds!” Myron shouted from the background.

Felicity saw that Cooper was trying to delete the student loan information, so she quickly bent down to unplug the computer. She heard a small beep before everything went black.

“I almost had it!” Cooper cried as his computer shut down.

“What were you thinking?” Felicity argued. “You promised you wouldn’t try anything! I do not want to go to prison and you shouldn’t want that either!”

Felicity couldn’t believe he had tried to do it. She felt betrayed for trusting him in the first place. Getting some recognition and maybe drawing the attention of the Calculator were the only things she had agreed on. But clearly Cooper hadn’t seen it that way.

“The DNS wasn’t configured. They couldn’t have backtraced me!” he shouted.

“They could have. The subroot was configured. By accessing the account, you could have set off a packets feedback that anyone could have traced back to you!”

Now Cooper was also a little shaken, but still too angry to admit he had done anything wrong.

“Do you even know what hacktivism really is?” he wanted to know. “Instead of posting to web forums we could be doing some real good in the world.”

Felicity opened her mouth to answer but Cooper wasn’t done.

“It’s all about what you wanna be when you grow up,” he said and stepped forward until he was face to face with her. “A hacker or a hero?”

And with that he turned around and walked out of the room.


	3. What Is This Feeling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is about Felicity and Laurel. The party will happen in the next one and we'll finally see some more of Oliver ;)

_What is this feeling?_  
_Fervid as a flame_  
_Does it have a name?_  
_Yes!_  
_Loathing  
__Unadulterated loathing_

When Felicity walked back to her room, Laurel was already there. Felicity groaned silently and dropped her stuff on her bed. After Cooper had stormed out of his room after their disastrous hacking attempt, she really wanted to be alone. Having Laurel there complaining about everything was something she didn’t want to deal with right now.

“Your mother’s been trying to contact you,” Laurel started. “Could you please pick up so that she stops calling me instead?”

She looked annoyed but that was something Felicity could understand. Her mother could be a pain sometimes.

“Yeah, I’ll call her. Did she say why she was calling?”

“I think she had found someone who could make fake IDs,” Laurel shrugged. “Of course, without telling dad. He wouldn’t approve.”

Sometimes Felicity really wondered how her mother and Quentin had found each other. A cop and a former cocktail waitress shouldn’t have had anything in common, but still for some reason, they worked really well together. A fake ID was something her mother clearly wanted her to have even though Quentin was the police captain now and would surely not let her drink before she was 21. Felicity was also pretty sure she could make her own fake ID if she so desired.

“I don’t need a fake ID anymore,” Laurel continued. “And I guess you don’t need one either, since you don’t seem to have a life outside of that computer, anyway.”

 _Rude_ , Felicity thought but stayed quiet.

Felicity and Laurel hadn’t gotten along in years. Laurel had been the popular princess at school who had had a big group of friends surrounding her at all times. Felicity had been the opposite. She had mostly spent her time alone, working on her computer. For her it had been enough, she hadn’t needed friends or popularity. Her only friend had been a girl named Alena who had also been into computers. They had sometimes hacked the school’s website together or worked on some problematic code. Alena was now studying at MIT, so Felicity saw her really rarely.

At school their little hacker bubble had sometimes been interrupted by some bullies, but Felicity had never cared about them. She didn’t care what some losers thought about her and her hobbies. She did, however, care about what Laurel thought. Laurel was her sister, so Felicity felt like her opinion weighed more.

Laurel had never approved of Felicity’s choice to just stay alone on her computer. People in general didn’t see computers and coding as something cool. If you wanted to be cool, you had to be fashionable, listen to the right music and drool over boys. That was something Laurel and her group did.

But even though they didn’t get along, Laurel had never bullied her or been mean. Rude, maybe, but not mean. They just had a strong mutual dislike for each other. Laurel mostly ignored Felicity or pretended she didn’t exist. That was why Felicity was surprised when she suddenly spoke to her.

“I don’t assume you’ll be coming to the party tonight?” Laurel asked her while she rummaged through her closet.

“Actually, I am,” Felicity answered, crossing her arms, suddenly defensive. She could party, too!

“Really?” Laurel turned around, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “I haven’t seen you in one of those in ages.”

“Sara asked me to come,” Felicity explained. “And just because you haven’t seen me partying, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do it.”

Laurel looked her up down, laughing a little. “I hope you weren’t thinking of coming in those shoes,” she chuckled.

Felicity looked down and wiggled her toes in her panda flats. “What’s wrong with my shoes?” she asked.

“Nothing at all,” Laurel replied, but Felicity could see her rolling her eyes. “At least you got over that goth phase of yours.”

Felicity shuddered at the reminder. Her goth phase had been full of questionable style choices. She had only worn black clothes. Even her hair had been dyed black.

“Yeah, let’s not bring that up,” she muttered, scratching her head, but when she looked up, Laurel wasn’t listening to her anymore.

Shrugging, Felicity checked the clock and noticed it was already nearing six. She decided to take a shower before the party and headed for the bathroom.

She was honestly a little nervous about the evening. Like Laurel had said, she hadn’t been in a party in a long time. She wasn’t the best at socializing with people. Every time she opened her mouth while being nervous, she ended up babbling or saying something inappropriate. And like that wasn’t enough, the party was also hosted by _the_ Oliver Queen who she had already insulted.

Felicity really hoped he wouldn’t recognize her. Maybe she would try to stay in the background and not make a fool of herself. She could sit next to Sara and not move anywhere. Yeah, that was a good plan.

Felicity washed her hair and even shaved her legs so that she could wear a nice dress to the party. When she was done, she stepped back into the room only to see Laurel sitting on her own bed, furiously typing on her phone. She looked distressed and Felicity thought she even saw a tear running down her cheek.

Felicity tightened her robe and walked over to her.

“Are you okay?” she asked cautiously.

Laurel startled and looked up at her, wiping the tear away with her other hand.

“I’m fine,” she answered quickly and stood up, walking back to her closet and clearly pretended to go through her clothes.

“I can see you’re not,” Felicity continued. “Is it something I could help you with?” she asked.

“No,” Laurel just snapped which made Felicity take a step back.

“Okay,” she said, turning around. It wasn’t a good idea to argue with Laurel, so she decided to start getting ready for the party as it was already half past six. She had taken way too long in the shower so she knew that Sara would be calling her soon. Still, while she went through her own closet, she kept glancing at Laurel who was back at typing on her phone, a desperate look on her face.

“Maybe you should call your dad,” Felicity finally suggested. If Laurel didn’t want to talk to her, maybe she could talk to Quentin.

“No!” Laurel exclaimed. This time she was horrified.

Felicity raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Sorry,” Laurel mumbled. “I just don’t want him to see it.”

“See what?” Felicity inquired.

“The photo,” Laurel answered, defeated. She sat down on her bed, her phone in her hands.

“You have to explain a little more so I can understand,” Felicity said and took a seat next to her.

“I was hanging out with some friends last weekend by the pool. My bikini top broke and one idiot took a picture of me and is now spreading it online. That’s all,” Laurel told her. She was clearly ashamed but tried to mask it by being tough.

“Oh,” Felicity let out. That wasn’t something she had expected. She had thought that Laurel had some boy troubles or something similar. Also, her opening up to Felicity was rare.

“It’s not a naked picture or anything, but it’s not nice,” she explained. “People are already laughing at it online.”

Felicity could have let Laurel suffer a bit, but it wasn’t in her nature to be mean like that. Even though they disliked each other, she couldn’t just let her sister’s picture spread on the internet.

“Maybe I can help you,” she suggested.

“How?” Laurel looked at her.

“Let me get my laptop,” Felicity replied and got up, picking up her computer from her bed. “I can do some hacking and maybe remove the photo, but you still need to talk to your dad about it. I can’t know who else has it and what they plan to do with it.”

Laurel just nodded her head, while Felicity got to work.

She managed to delete the photo from all the sites Laurel had seen it on and also from her so-called friend’s phone. She also deleted it from a few other online accounts. When she was done, Laurel was on the phone, probably talking with Quentin. While her sister talked with her father, Felicity did her own make-up for the party, finally picked a dress she wanted to wear and curled her hair.

When Laurel ended the call, Felicity was dressed in a short golden dress. She was putting on her heels when Laurel sat back on her bed.

“I have to go but I wanted to say thanks,” she said quietly. “Dad wants to talk to you, too, at some point, because you know what he thinks about your hacking. But thank you, anyway, for getting rid of that photo.”

Felicity nodded without answering and watched Laurel leave the room. It was the first time in many years that Laurel had actually thanked her for something or even accepted her help. Felicity had to admit it felt nice.

And now that all of that drama was sorted, she could finally start to mentally prepare herself for Oliver Queen’s party.

Oh, boy.


	4. Dancing Through Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver have fun at the party until something unexpected happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm European and here you can drink alcohol when you're 18 so everyone drinking in this chapter is totally fine by me :D

_The trouble with schools is_  
_They always try to teach the wrong lesson_  
_Believe me, I've been kicked out of enough of them to know_  
_They want you to become less callow  
Less shallow_  
_But I say: Why invite stress in?_  
_Stop studying strife  
_ _And learn to live "the unexamined life"_

_Dancing through life_  
_Skimming the surface_  
_Gliding where turf is smooth_  
_Life's more painless_  
_For the brainless_  
_Why think too hard  
_ _When it's so soothing?_

The frat house was full of people. Felicity was standing near the door to the living room area where most of the students had crammed themselves in. Sara was sitting on a couch where some of the guys had kindly carried her. She was enjoying the party, chatting with people and singing along to songs that some DJ in the corner was playing. She was constantly glancing at Tommy who was already dancing on the table, but at least he still had his clothes on. He looked like he was having the time of his life, as did everyone else.

Felicity herself wasn’t having that good of a time.

The party was fine. She hadn’t made of fool of herself, yet, so she had to think of it as a success. She just didn’t really have anyone to talk to. Spending most of her time on the computer sadly meant that she didn’t know a lot of people. Cooper and Myron would never set foot in a frat house and she was pretty sure they wouldn’t like her being there either, dancing in a short dress and drinking cheap beer.

Cheap beer indeed. Felicity eyed the drink in her hand suspiciously before taking a sip. It didn’t taste as bad as she had thought but it was still pretty horrible. She didn’t even like beer, and she wondered why she had even poured herself some. She decided to go to the kitchen and try to find something that actually tasted nice, instead of drinking that garbage. Red wine, she had noticed, tasted really good and she hoped someone had stored a few bottles somewhere.

In the kitchen she opened a few cupboards until saw a black bottle on one of the shelves.

“Bingo!” she whispered and took the bottle. It looked like some cheap wine you could find on the lowest shelf in a grocery store, but it would have to do. She wasn’t a snob, anyway.

Felicity was standing her back to the doorway, so she didn’t hear someone come in before they cleared their throat.

“Stealing our wine?” she heard a really familiar voice ask.

She whirled around, almost dropping the wine bottle. “Oh, frack!” she exclaimed, noticing Oliver leaning on the doorframe.

“No!” she started to explain. “I mean, yes, I guess, but I was gonna put it back, I swear. I just wanted something other than that beer ‘cause it tastes like shit. I mean not like _shit_ shit, of course! It just wasn’t… good.”

She laughed awkwardly, still clutching the wine bottle to her chest.

“No, you’re right. It does taste like shit,” Oliver smirked, walking fully into the kitchen. “But so does that wine.”

He took the bottle from her hands and placed it on the counter. “I have something better,” he said, smiling kindly at her. “I’ll be right back.”

Felicity stood in the middle of kitchen, watching Oliver’s retreating back with wide eyes. She had no idea what had just happened. Oliver was actually nice to her and didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that she had first bumped into him and then shouted at him. She would have been mad if someone had done that to her.

It didn’t take long for Oliver to walk back into the kitchen but this time he was holding a bottle of wine in his hands.

“I still have this in my room,” he murmured, reading the label of the bottle. He placed it on the counter next to the other one, and that was when Felicity saw what it really was.

“Lafite Rothschild 1982!” she exclaimed. “That is super expensive! I can’t drink that!”

She didn’t know a lot about wines, since she shouldn’t even have been drinking them yet, but she did know that those wines were really expensive. She was horrified Oliver thought it was okay for her to drink it.

“Well, if you know who I am, you also know that my family is pretty rich,” he shrugged and fetched a wine bottle opener.

“Of course, I know who you are,” Felicity answered. “You’re Mr. Queen.”

She really had not known who he was earlier that day, but she was not going to tell him that.

“Oliver, please,” he answered automatically. “Mr. Queen was my father.”

Felicity nodded. “Right, but he’s dead.”

Only when Oliver looked at her with wide eyes did she realize what she had said.

“I mean he drowned,” she continued hastily. “I mean passed away… which I shouldn’t be talking about…”

_Please, someone shut me up._

“No need,” Oliver laughed, picking up a couple of wine glasses and pouring some wine in them. “I like that you’re not beating around the bush when talking about that. Most people are, and it usually drives me crazy. My dad died and I’ve had to accept it.”

Felicity couldn’t believe he was casually talking about his father’s death in the middle of a party.

“I- Please, let’s just talk about something else,” Felicity pleaded.

“Like the incident earlier today?” he smirked and offered her a glass.

She groaned audibly and hoped the ground would just swallow her right there.

“No, not about that, either.”

_Why, oh why was her life always like this?_

“Then, would you like to tell me your name?” Oliver asked with mirth in his eyes. “I did just offer you a glass of _super expensive_ wine, after all.”

Felicity felt like he was mocking her a little bit, but in a good nature.

“Felicity,” she smiled. “Smoak.”

“Well, Smoak,” he paused dramatically, holding his glass. “Cheers!”

He clinked their glasses together and took a sip with Felicity following suit.

“Oh my God, that is good!” she moaned when the tannin taste hit her taste buds. She wiped her mouth, fearing she’d start drooling. “I didn’t even know wine could taste this good!” she gushed.

“Certainly better than that garbage,” Oliver replied, gesturing to the other wine.

Felicity swirled the glass in her hand. “How do you even have this?”

“My mom has really expensive taste in wine,” he explained and put his glass on the counter. “I think she gave it to me before the accident, but I never got around to drinking it.”

“And you thought a frat house kitchen in the middle of party was a good place to drink it?” Felicity laughed.

Oliver nodded, smiling back at her.

She was just about to ask what he was even doing there, living in a frat house of all places, but was interrupted by Laurel who suddenly appeared on the doorway.

“Ollie!” she cried enthusiastically. She was smiling widely, but her smile fell when she noticed Felicity standing next to Oliver. She still entered room and plastered herself to his side.

“Here you are! I’ve been searching for you everywhere,” she grinned. Felicity had seen this ritual many times and she had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She already felt sorry for Oliver.

She could see him wince a little when Laurel placed her hand on his chest, which seemed a little odd. If he still was the same man who loved parties and girls, Laurel being near him shouldn’t have been a problem.

“Some random guy passed out in the bathroom, so I need your help getting him up,” Laurel informed him, patting his chest. Felicity could see it was just a ploy to get him alone but as the host of the party, Oliver had to take it seriously.

She smiled sadly at him and pointed in the direction of the living room. “I’m just gonna go check on Sara,” she mouthed.

Felicity didn’t want to be in Laurel’s way when she was clearly trying to get Oliver’s attention. She knew it would end badly. When Laurel had set her eyes on someone, no-one could come in her way.

Felicity left the kitchen with her wine glass in her hand, and as she glanced behind her, she could see Laurel dragging Oliver away. She shrugged and headed for the room where most of the commotion was coming from and where she knew Sara would be sitting.

When she entered the room, she stopped in shock, her eyes widening. She let out a little squeak and covered her mouth with her hand.

Tommy was now dancing on the table in his underwear and everyone around him was screaming. The DJ was playing some hit song on full volume and the room smelled like sweat and cheap alcohol. Sara was now back in her chair and someone was swirling her around on the makeshift dance floor.

When Felicity tried to take a step backwards and leave the room in fright, she collided with someone’s chest. She turned her head and saw Oliver behind her.

“Wanna dance?” he asked her, laughing at her reaction. Felicity just stared at him.

“Wha- you were supposed to be with Laurel,” she stammered.

“Well, it looks like the guy she was talking about had found his way out of the bathroom himself,” he shrugged. “If there even was a guy in the first place.”

Felicity looked around but didn’t see Laurel anywhere. She must have gotten pissed her plan hadn’t worked.

“So, do you want to dance?” Oliver asked again, offering her his hand.

“I’m not good at that,” she shook her head.

“Doesn’t matter,” he replied, taking the wine glass from her hand and placing it on a random table. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

The music was even louder there, and Felicity could feel the beat of the bass pulsing through her. Oliver stopped in the middle of everyone, high fiving a couple of people he clearly knew. Felicity herself felt like a fish out of water, but she had to admit the music was making her body move without even having to try.

Soon the song changed to one she also knew from a few years back and she noticed herself actually dancing. She glanced up at Oliver who was now in front of her and they both grinned. She started singing along and moving her body in all directions, making Oliver laugh. Some girl next to her joined in and soon they were both giggling.

After a few songs she didn’t know why she had been so hesitant. Dancing was a lot of fun and no-one seemed to think she didn’t belong there. Oliver was currently dancing the macarena in front of her and she was holding her stomach, laughing with tears in her eyes.

Sara had moved to the side, but Felicity saw her smiling and laughing so she wasn’t worried. She could also see Laurel in the crowd, currently dancing with Tommy, who had thankfully put on some clothes.

When Macarena was over, Felicity stopped to take a few breaths. She was getting a little thirsty and hungry so when she noticed a plate full of what looked like chocolate brownies on one of the side tables, she took a bite of one. It tasted really good, so she kept eating it until she was dragged back to the dance floor.

Another song was playing, and Felicity started dancing once again. Suddenly she could feel her tongue begin to itch in a weird way. She coughed a little and that was when she realized she couldn’t breathe properly. She stopped moving and clutched at her throat, feeling her airways closing. Oliver was quickly by her side, asking if she was okay. She could only shake her head. He took hold of her and guided her to a couch in the corner. Other people had started to notice that something was wrong and stopped dancing.

“I need… my…” Felicity tried to wheeze out. She was sitting on the couch but as her breathing became harder, everything started getting blurry.

“What do you need? What can I do?” Oliver was asking frantically. She saw he was too confused as he didn’t know what was wrong with her.

Then Laurel suddenly appeared in front of her, shoving Oliver aside.

“Felicity, where is your Epi-pen?” she asked. “Is it in your bag?”

Felicity nodded, pointing at the direction of Sara.

Oliver jumped up immediately and quickly fetched her bag, dumping everything in it on the floor. Laurel picked up the Epi-pen that had landed near her foot and jammed it right into her sister’s thigh without any warnings.

Felicity winced and hissed in pain. She glanced up at Oliver, who was looking down at her with worry, and that was when the world around her went black.


	5. Popular

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Laurel finally get to talk. Plus a little bit of Oliver as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on getting this done a lot earlier but then I went to Hungary and only came back home a few days ago :D

_Popular!_  
_I know about popular_  
_And with an assist from me_  
_To be who you'll be_  
_Instead of dreary who you were_  
_Well, are_  
_There's nothing that can stop you  
_ _From becoming popular_

“So, I ate a pot brownie, and instead of getting high, I had a severe allergic reaction, because the brownie had nuts in it, and I had to be rushed into the hospital because I blacked out? Is that it?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Huh, I guess it could have gone worse,” Felicity deadpanned, lying on top of her bed and staring at the ceiling.

After she had passed out, she had been taken to the hospital by Oliver and Laurel. She had come to in the car but had been really out of it, so she couldn’t remember much. She did remember Oliver driving the car and she thought she had heard Laurel complaining about something in the passenger seat. She hadn’t heard much, and when they had realized she had woken up, they had stopped their conversation.

Once in the hospital everything had been routine. It hadn’t been her first time having an allergic reaction, so she had known what to expect. She knew it was useless to try and argue that she was totally fine and could just go back to her room to sleep. She had tried that before, but it had never worked.

So, she had spent the night at the hospital.

She was finally allowed to leave in the morning after she had gotten another lecture from one of the doctors. She knew she should have been more careful, but for once in her life she had actually had fun at the party and accidentally eating something with nuts in it had been far from her mind.

When she had exited the hospital, Oliver had been waiting for her. She had been surprised to see him there, leaning on his car, texting someone urgently.

“You’re still here?” she had asked, surprised, which had made Oliver look up and abandon his phone.

“Of course,” he had answered, opening the car door and letting her inside. “It was my fault you ended up in the hospital, anyway.”

Felicity had tried to explain to him that it couldn’t have been his fault since she had eaten those brownies herself and he hadn’t even known about her allergy. He had just shaken his head and told her that he was responsible for the party and he should have known someone had brought pot brownies there.

They had argued back and forth but Felicity had given up after a few minutes, too tired to continue. Oliver had then driven her to her dorm and promised her he would come and check on her later in the afternoon, after she had taken a nap.

And that was why she was lying on her bed at 10 o’clock in the morning.

She had fallen asleep for a couple of hours without even changing her clothes. When she had arrived at the hospital, she had still been wearing her dress, so Laurel had gotten her some clothes from their room so that she could wear something comfortable on the way back.

Laurel had also had a long night without much sleep, so she was lying on her own bed on the other side of the room.

“Is this the first time you’ve skipped a class?” Laurel wondered, glancing at Felicity. Laurel hadn’t gone to class, either, but Felicity was pretty sure it wasn’t as rare for her sister as it was for her.

“Not the first,” she answered. “There have been a few times I’ve been coding something till the morning and completely lost the track of time,” she smirked. “But only a few!”

She was a responsible student after all.

“Well, I have to say I didn’t think you’d be able to just stay in bed and not go to class,” Laurel commented.

“I didn’t know you could actually be nice to me,” Felicity replied without even thinking.

Laurel sat up in her bed, her eyes wide. “Excuse me?”

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Felicity winced. “Frack.”

Great timing, brain, she thought. Laurel had been nice to her for the first time in many years and they had started to get along a little and now she was about to ruin it all.

Felicity sat up as well, searching for her glasses. When she found them on the bedside table, she stood up.

“I should maybe go,” she pointed at the door, “before I make things even more awkward.”

She only had time to take a few steps when she heard Laurel answer.

“I have never hated you, you know?”

Felicity swirled around, staring at her sister. “Really? Because you really haven’t given me any reason to think otherwise.”

Felicity saw it was difficult for Laurel to come up with an answer, so she turned away again, fetching her bag and starting to collect all the things she would need for the second class of the day. She was just about to pick up her laptop when Laurel exploded.

“I’ve always been jealous of you!” she cried. She seemed dead serious, which was hard for Felicity to comprehend.

“Jealous? Of me?” she laughed and dropped her bag on the bed. “Why would Miss Perfect be jealous of me?”

“Because you’re always good at everything you do!” Laurel answered her, nervously pacing around. “Dad is always going on and on about how wise you are and how you’ll be a real genius when you graduate! And your mother, even though she does show it in a weird way, thinks you’re the best person ever. Since our parents got together, it has always been about how good you are at everything.”

“That’s not true,” Felicity continued silently. “I’m really bad at communicating with people. I don’t have friends and I always make a fool of myself.”

How many times had she babbled something inappropriate? It was like the world didn’t want her to get to know anyone.

“That isn’t true, either,” Laurel shook her head. “You don’t have friends because you never go out. You spend your days and nights at your computer, hiding from the real world.”

“I do know that,” Felicity tried to answer, but Laurel wasn’t done.

“Did you see how Oliver followed you like a puppy yesterday?” she asked with a raised brow. “You can make friends if you just want to. Ollie seemed enchanted by you.”

“I don’t even know him well,” Felicity said. “I bumped into him the other day which didn’t really go that well, so he probably felt sorry for me when he saw me alone at the party.”

There was no other reason for him to spend time with her. He was the popular one with lots of friends and she was the nerdy loner. She was on a totally different planet when it came to relationships or human contact in general. If he resided on Earth, her own home would be somewhere on Pluto.

“Did you know Ollie and I used to date when we were younger?” Laurel suddenly asked.

“You did?”

“Yeah, it was in high school when we were both idiots, him more than me,” she explained. “It wasn’t that serious, anyway. Ollie was douchebag back then, but now he seems really different and I wanted to talk to him at the party, but he was glued to you the whole time.”

“I didn’t know that,” Felicity admitted. She hadn’t paid much attention to Laurel’s boyfriends back then, especially since her sister had dated so many morons. Felicity had had more important things to focus on.

“But that doesn’t explain the way you always pretended that I didn’t exist,” she continued. “It did feel like you hated me for some reason. Maybe because I was too much of a nerd and not good enough for your group of popular girls.”

“And you gave me the impression you didn’t care at all about anyone else. You were just on your computer all the time, and when you spoke, it was about things I had never even heard of. So, yeah, I guess I became quite cold towards you and I’m sorry about that. I’ve never handled jealousy well.”

Laurel actually looked ashamed. Felicity didn’t know how to answer or what to even do with all the information she had just gotten. How could she just forget all the years of being treated like she was nothing? Laurel did have a point about Felicity isolating herself, so she kind of understood how hard it must have been to talk to her.

“I… I guess we could try to start over?” she finally suggested. Maybe they could try and start respecting each other.

“Hi, I’m Felicity and I like computers,” she introduced herself and offered her hand to Laurel.

Laurel chuckled and shook her hand, smirking. “Hi, I’m Laurel and I’m going to make you my new project.”

With that she walked over to Felicity’s closet and threw all the content down to the floor.

“What are you doing!?” Felicity shrieked in horror.

“I’m gonna make you popular.”

* * *

Felicity finally stepped out of the auditorium after her two-hour lecture. She was hungry and ready to head down to the cafeteria. Listening to a lecture about cyber security, when she felt like she knew more than the professor, was tiring. Now she wanted to treat herself and buy a nice pastry before her next class.

When she walked towards the cafeteria, she felt a lot of eyes on her. Many people were glancing at her and some were even full-on staring. She picked up her pace and continued her way across the campus.

Even when she ordered her food and waited for her coffee, she felt people watching her. Still puzzled by the attention she took her drink and headed for the door. She was feeling self-conscious about the situation, so she kept her head down, trying to avoid looking at anyone.

That turned out to be a mistake as she, again, collided with someone. This time she didn’t fall but almost spilled her coffee.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she apologized, finally raising her head and seeing Oliver hovering over her.

“Felicity?”

He was staring at her, his eyes wide, a surprised expression on his stupidly handsome face.

“Oh, hi,” Felicity waved awkwardly. “I should probably watch where I’m going since this is the second time I’m bumping into you… But at least this time I didn’t drop anything or spill any coffee on you ‘cause, you know, that wouldn’t have been nice.”

She finished her little ramble with a little chuckle, but Oliver just continued staring at her.

“Hmm, Oliver? You okay?” she asked, waving her hand in front of his face.

That seemed to snap him out of his trance.

“Sorry,” he shook his head. “You just… what happened to your glasses?” he finally asked, confused.

“My glasses?”

“And your clothes!” he continued. “And your hair seems different, too.”

He was looking at her up and down with a frown on his face.

“Oh, I guess Laurel gave me a makeover of sorts,” Felicity told him, shrugging.

First Laurel had gotten rid of her glasses and told her to wear contacts instead. Then she had told her to take off her Iron Man shirt and replace it with a blue form fitting dress. Her ponytail hadn’t been fine, either, so she now had her hair down, flowing down her shoulders. Laurel had said it made her look prettier because then the golden color of her hair could shine in the sunlight.

Oliver, however, wasn’t satisfied. “But… why?”

Honestly, she had no idea.

“We decided to start over and try to be civil around each other, so she offered to help me with my style. Said it would make me ‘popular’. Wait, is that why everyone has been staring at me the whole afternoon?”

The realization made her gasp and look around the room. Some people were still glancing at them, but Felicity thought it was probably because of Oliver and not her.

“Eh, could be?” Oliver replied. “Honestly I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Wow,” Felicity muttered. “This clearly wasn’t what I had in mind when I agreed to the makeover…”

“Hey, you really don’t have to wear anything you don’t want. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do, but you don’t really say no to Laurel now do you?”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Oliver shook his head, grimacing.

If what Laurel had said was true, she and Oliver had been together, which meant that he had to know what she was like. And looking at his expression, he knew exactly that.

“But enough about Laurel. What are you doing here?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What do you mean?”

“I was supposed to come and check on you in you _room_ , but here I see you walking around like nothing happened.”

He raised an eyebrow, clearly trying to scold her, but sadly failing.

“Oh, please, did you really think I would skip all of my classes?” Felicity asked back. “I have a coding class in 20 minutes, and I don’t want to miss it.”

“You just got out of the hospital, Felicity.”

“It was just an allergic reaction, I’ve had worse,” she brushed it off.

“Seriously, you need to take care of yourself,” Oliver continued, this time without any humor in voice. “Seeing you passing out in front of me is not something I want to see again.”

“I’m fine, really,” she answered. “Now, I really need to get going if I want to pee before my class, so shoo,” she gestured for him to move. “And I promise I will be more careful from now on.”

“Fine,” Oliver gave up and let her pass him.

“And Felicity?”

“Yeah?” she turned around a little.

“I really liked that Iron Man shirt.”


End file.
